Once complete in 2020, the RRC will take all of Somerset’s household rubbish and convert it into energy for thousands of homes through the national grid.

As well as switching tens of thousands of tonnes of rubbish from costly, wasteful and polluting landfill, Somerset Waste Partnership (SWP) is launching a new collections contract in 2020 with extra materials – including a range of plastic packaging – taken every week at the kerbside using a brand new fleet of vehicles.

SWP Managing Director Mickey Green welcomed the construction launch as signalling the opportunity to give waste a new life as a valuable resource.

He added: “SWP manages the waste from more than 250,000 Somerset homes, with one of the highest recycling rates in the country and recycling in the UK 94% of what we collect.

“The Avonmouth RRC forms the cornerstone of our ambitions to help Somerset residents to waste less, recycle even more and – for whatever is left over – switch from a reliance on landfill to resource recovery from 2020.”

Front page picture of building shows an artist’s impression of the RRC. The RRC is being built for Viridor, which runs SWP’s 16 recycling sites, the landfill sites at Dimmer near Castle Cary and Walpole near Bridgwater, and anaerobic digestion plant, also at Walpole.